Purdue Volleyball Falls to No. 5 Wisconsin

By Tom Schott

The Wisconsin volleyball team proved every bit deserving of its No. 5 national ranking with a 15-7, 15-7, 15-3 victory over Purdue before 1,160 fans at the Intercollegiate Athletic Facility on Friday night.

Wisconsin (25-2, 16-1) remained in a first-place tie in the Big Ten Conference with second-ranked Penn State (27-1, 16-1), which swept Northwestern 15-9, 15-0, 15-3 on Friday.

In each of the three games, the Badgers, who have won 13 straight matches, used big uprisings to break open close scores. A 6-0 run broke a 3-all tie in Game 1, an 8-0 spurt in Game 2 snapped an 8-all deadlock and a 7-0 surge wiped out an early 1-0 deficit in Game 3.

"We did some really nice things early in the first two games but could not sustain," Purdue coach Joey Vrazel said. "Then it was just one mental error after another. Wisconsin is an excellent team, but it's one thing for a team to beat you and other thing to make costly errors yourself."

Bev Krupa paced Purdue with nine kills, while Sara Emke and Katie Gibbons both had seven. Emke also recorded two blocks, while Gibbons came up with nine digs and added two service aces.

Wisconsin, which hit .296 as a team and totaled seven blocks, was led by Heather Dodaro's 10 kills and four blocks. The Badgers limited the Boilermakers to just a .089 attack percentage.

Purdue plays its final home match of the 1997 season Sunday against Illinois at 5 p.m. The match will be televised live by SportsChannel/Fox Sports Chicago. Seniors Sarina Harris and Linda Menconi will be honored in prematch festivities. Illinois played at Ohio State on Friday night.